Raptor pellets as zooarchaeological material for paleoparasitological studies in Patagonia

BELTRAME M. ORNELA; FUGASSA MARTÍN H.; SARDELLA NORMA H.; CIVALERO M. TERESA; ASCHERO CARLOS

JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SCIENCE

ACADEMIC PRESS LTD-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Año: 2011 vol. 38 p. 1511 - 1515

0305-4403

Raptor pellets from Cerro Casa de Piedra archaeological sites, Patagonia, have yielded consistent evidence of parasitism and possible zoonoses in ancient times. Pellet samples analyzed was dated at 2,740 ± 100 and 3.990 ± 80 years before present and have produced evidence of three intestinal parasite genera. Eggs of two nematodes Trichuris and Calodium, and one cestode, taeniid, were found. Its significance for rock shelters paleoepidemiology of the Holocene is discussed. This study increases the evidences that raptor pellets can be used as source of paleoparasitological information in archaeological sites.